This 2023 Road Glide is one of our shop bikes. Built with our Fast Jax Racing Team Logo.
When we set out to build this bike the 135 Harley Davidson crate motor was just released, so we figured we would give it a try and see how it performed. We worked with Space Coast Harley to buy the brand new 23 Road Glide Standard. We also ordered the motor from them, but while we were on the list for the motor we brought the bike from the trailer to the shop and started stripping her down.
The retro race theme is what I felt when I saw this redline red Road Glide sitting on the floor. I knew I wanted to do some race stripes and go with the full strip look from front to back. Even the inside of the fairing was just screaming for some attention. With the release of the Fast Johnnie having only a 117 power plant we wanted to do a “Faster Johnnie” that would make that old pig proud.
I began laying out stripes with paper and tape to get the right look. Once I figured out the stripes All the bodywork came off and off to our painter Jordan, who is a wizard. Getting stripes to line up with multiple parts can be tricky, but Jordan knocked it out of the park.
I know I wanted the bike not to be the same as every other Road Glide, so the powder coating began. The bike came with the Enforcer 2 wheels which I wasn’t excited about, so I picked up a set of Prodigy wheels and had them coated white. The fork tubes had to match, so off to powder they went as well.
I wanted to set the bike up for a killer ride and make sure I could adapt it to different riding styles so, the best choice for me was to go with GP front suspension so they are fully adjustable. Gp custom builds them to the specs we give them so we knew they would be good to go. Once they came in we trimmed the bottom of the fork tubes and dropped in the new suspension.
The rears we chose Legend Suspensions Revo ARC remote reservoir shocks. They have a great ride and a ton of adjustability as well. The front and rear shocks dialed in make this bike hold the road like it is on rails.
We knew once the motor was in this bike should move along pretty well, so I figured we should probably make it stop equally. I decided to go with Arlen Ness Big Brake Rotors which are 14″ and Lyndall Racing Pads. It stops amazingly well for an 800lb motorcycle.
By this time the motor was ready to go and drop in. I was like a 3-year-old at Christmas when the new 135 was dropped in. I had the Screaming Eagle extreme wedge and Vance and Hines 2-1 RR Exhaust ready to go. We built a custom baffle at the shop to help open up the exhaust to move the air to go along with the 135 and the massive air cleaner. The motor came with the 68mm throttle body already so we knew we should be good there.
The factory 517 cam was actually a pretty decent running cam, but I wanted more. We ended up with the CR515 cam from a recommendation from Matt at Those Dyno Guys. He had tuned a few 135’s with them and had great results. We have ran about every other brand of cams but I personally have not had any experience with Cycle Rama until now. It was right before Biketober so I rushed to have the cam installed the night before I could go see Matt for the tune while he was set up in Daytona.
To my surprise the came woke the bike up BIG TIME and turned this bike into a red rocket. Matt spent some time getting it dialed in at 160hp and 170tq. For a stock motor except for the exhaust, cam and air cleaner, I was very impressed. Hats off to Harley for building one hell of a crate motor with this 135.
We also build a crankcase breather kit here in the shop for the M8’s so we had one on here right away as well.
We build a lot of nice motorcycle audio systems in the shop, so this bike had to represent as well. We went with the WetSounds Zero series horn-loaded speakers. They are crisp and clear and plenty loud to hear over this beast. With the Baja / CaliRaised Moto light kit we were pretty limited on the amps we could use. We since have started producing amp mount plates for these light kits that will hold quite a few different amps. For this build we have a Precision Power amp rocking the sound system along with the Soundstream Reserve HDHU14 Si head unit. It is great to have all of the modern touches right on the head unit. The Soundstream Reserve has some gauge functions, Apple CarPlay, and a 13 band EQ. Needlesss to say this system sounds great for only a 4 speaker system.
If you are looking to have a bike build we would love to help you. Anything from tires, brakes, audio to full builds we would love to work with you.
